Soprano Juliane Banse was born in the South of Germany and spent her childhood in Zürich, Switzerland. She began playing the violin at the age of five and whilst still at school trained as a ballerina at the Zürich Opera where she also appeared on stage. She began singing lessons at the age of fifteen, her teachers being Paul Steiner and Ruth Rohner (Opera Zürich). After leaving school she continued her studies with Brigitte Fassbaender and Daphne Evangelatos in Munich.

Juliane Banse has been awarded numerous scholarships and prizes. In June 1989 she won First Prize in the singing competition of the Kulturforum, Munich, and in December 1993 the International Franz Schubert Institute awarded her with the Grand Prix Franz Schubert for her interpretation of that composer's works.

She made her operatic debut as Pamina at the Komische Oper Berlin in 1989 and was subsequently reinvited for Ilia in Idomeneo in 1991 and for Susanna in Le Nozze di Figaro in 1992. Further engagements led her to Leipzig, Salzburg, Glyndebourne, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Vienna and Cologne.

Juliane's work as a concert singer is of equal importance to her and she appears frequently in concerts and recitals all over the world. She regularly appears with Helmuth Rilling. In November 1994 she made her debut with the Vienna Philharmonic under Claudio Abbado, where she sang Berg's Lulu-Suite. She made her American debut in 1995 with Mahler's Symphony No 2 with the St Louis Symphony Orchestra under Leonard Slatkin and at the Indianapolis Symphony Orchestra under Raymond Leppard (Haydn's Seasons). Under the baton of Sinopoli she recorded Berg's Sieben frühe Lieder with the Staatskapelle Dresden. With the Berlin Philharmonic Juliane Banse performed Haydn's Creation under Sir Simon Rattle.